Path for Riverwalk Greenway faces possible detour
Aldermen to consider alternate options for key section of trail system
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
October 30, 2020
A plan that would connect the Flat Creek Greenway, north of Black Mountain Primary School, to The Oaks Trail at the end of Vance Avenue is facing challenges in the design phase. Photo by Fred McCormick
New options will have to be considered regarding plans for a major section of the Town of Black Mountain’s greenway system that will one day connect existing trails.
The second phase of the Riverwalk Greenway, when completed, will take pedestrians or cyclists from the Flat Creek Greenway near Black Mountain Primary School through what is now Riverwalk Loop behind the former Bi Lo building and under N.C. 9 to The Oaks Trail at the end of Vance Avenue. However, the design process for the mostly federally funded $6 million expansion project has hit a snag, Town Manager Josh Harrold told the board of aldermen in an Oct. 29 workshop.
The original plan was to design and build a 1.5-mile route along Flat Creek that would travel under U.S. 70 through an existing tunnel system near Flat Creek Road. That path would continue south behind property at the end of Center Avenue where the creek meets the Swannanoa River, where a bridge would be built to enable users to cross. Federal regulations requiring a No-Rise Certification for projects in a floodway have proven challenging for the engineers designing the trail.
“When you are developing in a floodway you have to present a scenario where there isn’t any rise in water levels, it can’t be an inch or a half-inch, it must be zero,” Harrold told Mayor Larry Harris, Jennifer Willet, Tim Raines and Maggie Tuttle, the three aldermen who attended the meeting. “Where one bridge will be located, we’ve had trouble getting to this no-rise scenario.”
The second phase of the Riverwalk Greenway expansion will connect trail systems through the Riverwalk Loop, which is located in the park with which it shares a name. Fred McCormick
Michael Baker International, the engineer for the project, has worked on approximately 16 designs to meet the standard, according to the town manager, who then presented three possible alternative options for the board to consider.
Four properties adjacent to the bridge site would potentially be impacted under the no-rise regulations and the first option presented by Harrold was to explore purchasing the lots to allow the town to mitigate the potential for increased flooding. That move, however, would involve overcoming “hurdles.”
“We don’t yet know the market value of these properties, but the total tax value totals around $1 million,” he said.
The town would need to seek additional federal funding to purchase the land, and it is unknown if the current owners of the land are willing to sell. That process would also significantly lengthen the timeline for the completion of the trail.
“We’re still waiting to find out if that is even an eligible expense for this funding,” Harrold said. “I believe one thing that will be looked at is if this is the only option to connect, and if it’s not then they may not be willing to spend $1 million on it.”
An alternative alignment would allow the project to be completed sooner, but drastically alter the initial concept. Shifting to an “on-road” design would not require a no-rise scenario by avoiding the river crossing and would eliminate the need to cross under U.S. 70, reducing the amount of construction needed to complete Phase 2.
While no specific design has been created for an on-road option, that scenario could involve a combination of sharrows, or pavement markings that indicate to motorists that the route is preferred by cyclists and pedestrians, and a system of multi-use paths and sidewalks. Road crossings, like the one at U.S. 70 in front of the primary school, would be outfitted with rapid-response traffic beacons to increase the visibility of the crosswalk.
The Oaks Trail at the end of Vance Avenue connects cyclists and pedestrians to Veterans Park. Phase 2 of the Riverwalk Greenway expansion would connect the trail to the Flat Creek Greenway on the other side of Black Mountain. Fred McCormick
“You may be asking yourself why you’re just hearing about this now and not two or three years ago,” Harrold told the board. “The unfortunate thing about this type of funding is this is what happens with highways. You go through the process and you don’t find out what the issue is until you’re in the engineering phase.”
The town is required to submit 60% of the engineering work to the N.C. Department of Transportation before moving to the right-of-way acquisition phase of the expansion, according to the town manager. Regardless of how the board chooses to proceed, a projected $300 million budget shortfall for the NCDOT in the 2019-20 fiscal year will keep the project from moving into the right-of-way acquisition phase for three to six months, according to planning director Jessica Trotman.
Harrold added that a third, yet unknown, option could present itself as staff continue to work on the project. Mayor Larry Harris asked town staff to provide additional details on both options for the board to consider the appropriate way to move forward with the project.
“The goal tonight was to give you an update on where we stand,” Harrold said. “There is no action needed right now, but this is information the board will need to consider moving forward.”